


Worth the torture

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: LL One year anniversary [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Adorable, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Kid Fic, Kidfic, Life lessons fic, Mischief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 05:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Kakashi has a problem, namely he has no clue just how Iruka managed to locate him in the middle of the grove he goes to nap in. What's worse is the kid doesn't seem all that eager to spill the beans on that topic, though he apparently has plenty of questions to keep the Anbu busy with.





	Worth the torture

**Author's Note:**

> One of the one year anniversary fics for Life Lessons. If you haven't read the main story GO READ IT!

Kakashi came awake in an instant, the small movement on his mask having his hand jolting forward to snatch up the hand that had been touching it. His other itched to take up the weapon just tucked away at his hip, but stalled from it’s movement abruptly. The sound of laughter was not what he had expected upon waking, most missing nin’s didn’t giggle when trying to de-mask an Anbu. His brain processed all of that in an instant along with the fact that he wasn’t presently on a mission, he’d been in Konoha safely tucked away from prying eyes.

Kakashi let out a long drawn out sigh upon his vision clearing, the last dredges of sleep leaving him as he took in the figure above. Iruka was peering down at him with a wide grin on his face despite his arm still being held hostage by the Anbu. “What have I told you about my mask?” He immediately went into a lecturing tone. Iruka continued to grin down at him like he wasn’t getting rebuked for doing something he’d been told off doing a hundred times before.

“Not to touch it.”

“And what did you just do?” He quizzed the boy while simultaneously releasing the boys arm.

“I touched it.” Iruka replied with an air of what Kakashi could only determine was pride.

“Iruka.”

“It’s not like I was trying to take it off.” Iruka defended.

“You stil-”

“Besides you stopped me before I even got to tap you three times.” Iruka pointed out with a grin. “And the mask isn’t even your skin, it’s just over your face. It’s not like I saw your face or anything, that’s what the rules are about right? I can’t see your face, but I didn’t. So there’s nothing really wrong with me touching it, it has a weird texture. What’s it made of? What happens if it breaks or gets cracked, does it get all craggly?”

Kakashi did his best to keep the subject on what the real problem was and not allow Iruka to sway the conversation towards something less serious. The boy had continued to ask these same questions for years now and he hadn’t once answered them, that was probably why Iruka was so persistent. Still there was some things he just couldn’t tell the boy, not that it seemed to faze Iruka much.

“Don’t do it again.” He cautioned the boy.

“Why?”

“Iruka.” He groaned.

The boy laughed. “Wolf I’m not gonna take it off.”

“You couldn’t if you tried, but that’s not the point.”

“What is the point?”

Kakashi glared back at the boy playing ignorant. “I could hurt you.” He reminded Iruka for what felt like the hundredth time.

Iruka shrugged.

“I could kill you, Anbu do-”

“You’d never hurt me.”

As touching as it was to hear the boys resolute belief in him, he couldn’t let this slide so easily. “You don’t know that Iruka, instinct takes over I wasn’t even aware that you were the one touching me. If I’d reacted with a weapon you w-”

“Do you feel the tapping or is it like reverberations? How’s it connected to your face? There’s no straps that I can see, does it itch?” The boy interjected apparently done with the present lecture he was receiving.

“Iruka.” Kakashi stated flatly. “Don’t touch my mask again.”

The boy shrugged as if he wasn’t the least bit concerned one way or the other, letting out a groan Kakashi sat up. Iruka came to sit in front of him now that the debacle of the Anbu’s mask being touched was apparently over. Kakashi was still giving the boy an irritated look, but Iruka ignored that in favor of stating.

“You were napping.”

“And?”

“You never nap.”

“Oh I don’t do I?” Kakashi chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that I do.”

Iruka shook his head. “No.”

Kakashi let out a huff of laughter. “I hate to break it to you kid, but I do in fact sleep from time to time.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “That’s different than napping.”

“I really don’t think it is.”

“It is.”

“Why do you say that?” Kakashi couldn’t help but ask despite knowing it was most likely a stupid idea to get into this kind of argument with Iruka.

“Because.”

The simple and apparently infallible response had Kakashi muttering “Okay then...” Sometimes Kakashi couldn’t understand the logic of the boy sitting opposite of him, a great majority of that time he just had to let the subject drop. Sometimes getting answers weren’t worth the effort.

“Why were you napping?” Apparently Iruka wasn’t ready to let the subject drop.

“Cause I was tired?”

“You were?”

Kakashi sighed, seeing that his conversation was going nowhere he decided the best course of action was to figure out how Iruka had come to poke him in the mask. “Iruka how did you find me?” He wasn’t exactly out in the open, the small glen that he tended to inhabit when between shifts was quite well hidden. No one came out this far if they could help it since there truly was nothing besides wilderness. Sure it was still inside the gates of Konoha and thereby safe, but the wildness of the forest tended to steer civilians away and shinobi had better things to do than take nature hikes. All of this didn’t really matter in the end, Iruka didn’t know about the place so there was no feasible way for the boy to have found him.

“I just did.” The boy shrugged.

The glare he sent back to Iruka had the boy in stitches. “No you did not.” He replied flatly. “So how did you find me?”

Iruka was smirking as if he was in on the greatest joke of all, Kakashi couldn’t put it past the kid to be involved in a great many things. The ability to track down an Anbu however wasn’t one of the skills attributed to the boy.

“How did you find me?”

Iruka shrugged. Kakashi gave a perturbed look to the boy as he rolled to his feet, glancing around he searched for any of the likely culprits to help the kid. There was no one there, but them.

“What are you doing?” Iruka had climbed to his feet as well, looking around to see if he was missing something.

“Just checking.” He mused.

“Checking what?”

Looking back down at the genin who was smiling up at him, Kakashi sent what he knew would be a useless glare to the boy. As if he knew what Kakashi was thinking, Iruka didn’t react at all. Instead choosing to ask.

“So what is this place?”

“ You realize you just gave yourself away right?” He questioned the boy. “If you don’t know this place then you didn’t walk here, so I ask again Iruka how did you find me?” Not giving into the boys previous question Kakashi attempted to keep the boy on track. Iruka was apparently not with the program.

“It’s pretty cool, better than having to go outside the gates. There’s so many rules.” The genin bemoaned the regulations for anyone leaving the safety of the village. “Why do you have to sign so many pieces of paper if you live here? Sensei doesn’t have to do that, so why do I have to do that? Is it cause I wasn’t born here? That seems kinda stupid, it’s not like you can choose where your born and what do they do with all those papers? I doubt they keep them which means they’re useless to begin with, just a waste of trees.”

“Iruka.” The Anbu sighed. “Kid I love you, but you need to focus.”

“Huh?” Iruka tilted his head.

“How did you get here?”

Iruka shrugged. “You already said that I must not have walked here. How do you think I got here?”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You didn’t answer my questions.” The boy pointed out evenly. “Why should I answer yours?”

“God you’re gonna be hell when your a teen.”

Iruka gave him a peculiar look. “Aren’t I already a teen?”

“Not if I can help it, I’m going to continue to believe that you’ll stay a cute ten year old until I die of old age.”

Iruka snorted at that. “That’s stupid.”

Kakashi sighed as the boy’s flat response. “Fine. If I answer your questions will you answer mine?”

Iruka was silent a moment as if considering the deal being offered to him, he nodded.

“Okay then. The rules are so no one gets hurt, so no one gets lost and isn’t accounted for by the end of the day. You sign the papers because they check them to make sure that no single person is going in and out of the village extensively so that the threat of espionage isn’t overlooked. Not to mention the fact that by signing those papers your leaving a paper trail so people can know when you came and went, so if you don’t come back they’ll know what time you left.” Kakashi took a breath and instantly held up a hand to prevent Iruka from talking before he was done.

“Your sensei doesn’t have to file all the paperwork because seniority matters, I don’t have to do the paperwork either. That’s not to say that rank makes it useless though, it’s mostly a way for those who have already proven themselves to be inherently loyal to Konoha to not be tasked with filing useless paperwork. For you and your teammates it’s useful. Even if it was just about where you were born, you’d still have to do it because the hokage says so.”

He gave the genin a pointed look as he continued. “ I don’t need to remind you about all the shit that went down with your village do I? Of course you can’t choose where your born, but it has a lasting effect on whether or not people consider you loyal and no the hokage doesn’t think your not loyal.” He preemptively cut the boy off. “It’s just how things are done. I’m sure in a few years you’ll be phased out of the process, once your chunin or jounin and have a few missions under your belt that don’t revolve around pruning gardens. I know for a fact that they keep the papers, why I’m not sure and yes it’s a waste of paper when you think about the grand scheme of things. Still it’s a rule if you wish to enter or exit our village, it’s for safety and you should abide by it even if it is annoying. Which I know for a fact it is. Now How. Did. You. Find. Me?”

Iruka stared blankly up at the Anbu who had just listed off a tirade of answers to the many questions he’d asked. He hadn’t anticipated Wolf doing that, it had mostly been a last ditch effort on his part to make the Anbu drop the whole thing. Now he was screwed. Licking his lips Iruka muttered.

“Wow.”

“Iruka.” The Anbu bit out tersely.

“Sorry.” The boy shook his head. “That was just...A lot. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that-”

“Iruka.”

“Right. Umm Okay.” Iruka nodded his head as if he needed to clear it before speaking once more. “I know we don’t talk about my village and no you don’t need to remind me...Doesn’t shit count as a bad word? If so Language.”

Kakashi sent an unimpressed look back at the boy. “You’re not cute.”

Iruka pouted a moment. “It still sucks to do all that paperwork...AndIcanttellyouhowIfoundyou.” The last was hastely spat out right before Iruka twisted about sharply and began to walk away.

Kakashi blinked a second before glaring at the boys retreating back. It wasn’t hard to catch up and it was all too easy to pin the boy against a tree, both physically and mentally as he glared down at Iruka. The boy sighed now that he was caught. Iruka looked anywhere but at the Anbu’s steely gaze which he knew for a fact was leveraged at him.

“Wolf.”

“Don’t ‘Wolf’ me, tell me how you found me.”

“I can’t.” 

“Why not?”

Iruka finally met his gaze. “I promised.”

“Well that was a stupid thing to do.” Kakashi pointed out. “Cause you’re not leaving here until you tell me.”

Iruka huffed. “That sucks.”

“Yeah well you’re still going to tell me, so stop stalling and just spit it out.”

Iruka clamped his lips tightly together as if that alone would prevent him from speaking, Kakashi rolled his eyes at the boys childish response. “That’s not going to work, I can just keep you here.”

“No you can’t.” Replied haughtily.

“Oh I can’t?”

Iruka shook his head.

“And what makes you say that?”

“Cause you have guard duty in the morning.”

Kakashi blinked then scowled when he saw Iruka’s smirk. The damn kid was right of course, he couldn’t just keep Iruka pinned to a tree for however long it took for the boy to give in.The fact that someone had told the boy he had guard duty lead him to believe that he wasn’t wrong in assuming it was a fellow member of Anbu who had brought the boy to him. That still left him with the problem of figuring out who it was. He knew from experience that the boy had a knack for holding out when he wanted to keep something a secret. Now wasn’t any different and as loathe as he was to admit it, Iruka had outsmarted him in this instance.

“You think you’re cute don’t you?”

Iruka shrugged. “Himiko says I am.”

Kakashi snorted. “I can still hold you here until my shift.”

Iruka shrugged beneath his hold. “Okay.”

“How did you grow up to become so-”

“You can’t blame me, Himiko says I have to blame all of you for anything I do...Something about trauma to my brain from extended periods of time with Anbu.”

Kakashi blinked. “Did she seriously say that?” Iruka nodded. Kakashi sighed as he looked up at the sky, he’d need to have a conversation with Himiko about that. Which he was sure would just go over swimmingly.

“So are you going to let me go?”

“No.” Kakashi replied tartly.

“Why not?”

“Because you haven’t told me how you found me.”

“Does it really matter?” Iruka quipped back. “ It’s not like I got your mask off or went outside the village without filling out copious amounts of paperwork.”

“Iruka just tell me.”

“Can’t.” The boys chipper reply was just as annoying as the quaint smile on his face.

“I’m assuming that it was one of my comrades, Raccoon or Hawk perhaps?”

Iruka shrugged, refusing to give away anything despite the Anbu fishing for some kind of information. Wolf glared back at the boy who wasn’t giving an inch.

“You realize that I will find out one way or another.”

“Probably.”

Kakashi smirked. “So it would be useless to hide it then.”

“Nope.”

“No?”

“Nope.” Iruka reiterated. “Because if you figure it out by torturing someone it won’t have come from me.” He grinned. “And that’s all that matters.”

“It is huh? Because you promised?” Iruka nodded. “Hmm...Interesting.”

“Yeah. So can I go now?”

“Nope.” Kakashi sent back at the kid with a cheer in his voice. Iruka glared back at him, the first real sign that he wasn’t enjoying their little battle of wills anymore. The Anbu was pleased with himself when he got Iruka to start complaining only a few minutes later. Bored from being pinned to a tree, the genin muttered.

“C’mon Wolf, you won’t get me to break.”

“I could.” He pointed out.

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Well duh, but you’re not going to torture me.”

“Probably not.” Iruka glared. “Okay there’s a good chance I won’t torture you.”

The genin gave him a flat look before rolling his eyes. “I know that.”

“You do huh? And what if I decided to change my mind and torture you?”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “You don’t think torture would be bad enough to have you revealing your secrets?”

“Well yeah...I mean if it’s real torture that’s happening to you, sensei says it has a purpose even if it’s not pleasant.”

Kakashi snorted. “Right. Well then torture should inherently be avoided at all costs and yet here you are daring me to torture you.”

Iruka stared back at him blandly. “That doesn’t make sense. I’m not asking you to torture me Wolf, I’m just refusing to tell you how I found you.”

Kakashi laughed. “That’s kinda the definition of what prompts torture kid. Which means that you are giving me all the reason to torture you in order to retrieve the information I need.”

The genin continued to give him an odd look. “Himiko was right.”

“Oh? About what?”

“You guys are the reason my heads so screwed up.”

Kakashi snorted. “I’m sure we contributed, but the general consensus between all of us is that we did more good than harm.”

Iruka smirked. “I can agree with that.”

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. “Now back to the subject at hand, if you refuse to reveal your sources I will be forced to torture you.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Your being stupid Wolf, you’re not going to torture me.” The absolute tone of the boys voice was unwavering in its belief in Kakashi’s love of the boy.

“Oh I beg to differ.” Kakashi laughed at the pained expression on the boys face. “So tell me what I want to know, this is your last chance Iruka.” The boy huffed. “Still a no?”

Iruka twisted his head aside, refusing to make eye contact with the Anbu. 

“I don’t think your taking this seriously.”

“Well I know your not.” Iruka shot back.

Wolf chuckled. “Perhaps a demonstration is in order.”

Iruka gave him a befuddled look only to let out a shriek, his hands pushing uselessly against the stronger man’s form as he was tortured. Breath leaving his lungs which strained to bring more in before another wail left his lips.

“I can stop this at any time, all you have to do is tell me what I want to know.” The man stated in a serious tone. “All you’re doing is making yourself suffer.”

Iruka panted for breath as the torture came to an abrupt halt, tears were streaming down his face as he hiccuped for more air.

“Are you going to tell me what I want to know?” Iruka flinched when he saw the man’s hand which had just second prior been torturing him. Swallowing nervously Iruka shook his head, what little bravery he had in him flagging the moment that Wolf’s hand went back to his ribs. Iruka bucked against the other man, shrieking out high pitched laughter as he was tickled mercilessly by the Anbu. It was unfair that no matter how he kicked or punched, nothing deterred Wolf from continuing his onslaught. If anything it egged the man on as the Anbu proved by stating.

“You know, my shift doesn’t start until just before sunrise...I wonder how long you can hold out like this.”

“D-Don’t.”

“Don’t? Why Iruka I’m not doing anything. This torture can end at anytime, all you have to do is give me the information I want.”

Iruka shook his head.

“So absolute in your decision, well far be it from me to dissolve you of it. I’ll just have to content myself with getting the answer the old fashioned way.”

“This isn’t an old fashioned way.” Iruka spat out, his chest ached something fierce and he was still striving to bring in enough air.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that.”

“What because your old?” Iruka taunted.

Kakashi arched a brow, Iruka had guts. He’d never said otherwise, but if this weren’t a pseudo torture the boy would be inviting untold pain unto himself. Sighing Kakashi muttered. “You do realize that the most important thing about being tortured is to NOT egg on your captor right?”

Iruka blinked back at him owlishly a moment. “Bite me.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Cute, but no.”

Iruka shrieked as he was once more thrust into spasms as the Anbu used his own body against him. It lasted far too long and by the time Wolf finally released him Iruka’s chest was sore in a way that a weeks worth of training couldn’t replicate. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, his throat sore from all the screaming he’d done.

“Well anything to say for yourself now?”

Iruka glared heatedly towards the Anbu even as he remained silent, focusing solely on his breathing.

“You realize that if the situation was reversed whoever you promised would most likely give your name up in a heartbeat.”

Iruka snorted. “Do you go around tickling everyone you torture?”

Kakashi chuckled. “No, though I’m sure I could try it sometime.”

The boy huffed, either not believing him or not of the mind to care. “I’m not telling you.” Iruka finally bit out.

“I have to say I admire your ability to keep your word.”

“Wolf.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not telling you no matter how much flattery you try.”

The Anbu laughed. “Well I’m glad your not so easily bought out.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “C’mon you taught me better than that.”

“Did I?”

“You told me not to let Himiko skimp out on making cobbler simply because she was mad at you, that it was punishing me as well. You had me try to guilt her into making cobbler, how is flattery any different?”

“It was a good plan and we both got cobbler.” Kakashi felt the need to point out.

“Well yeah-”

“So it was a good outcome.”

“Wolf. I’m not going to tell you anything.” He flatly stated.

“Are you sure? Like really sure Iruka...Because I think we both know how much I can make your life a-”

“I do know how to lock windows now.”

Kakashi glared back at the smirking genin. “Cute.”

Iruka shrugged. “It was Hawk’s idea.”

“The windows or this?”

Iruka snorted. “The windows.”

“Hmm.” Kakashi glanced around trying to figure out if there was anyone spying on them or if there was any sign of someone having been there earlier. He got nothing and without the ability to remove the cover over his eye he was stuck with just Iruka’s word. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but at the moment the boy was being difficult.

“So can I go now?”

“No.”

Iruka groaned in a fashion that spoke of untold suffering, Kakashi smirked to himself upon hearing it. It was as he turned to bother the boy once more that something clicked in his head.

“Wait a minute.”

Iruka stared back at him curiously. “What?”

“Y-You were supposed to be helping your sensei.”

Iruka shook his head. Kakashi smirked beneath his mask when he saw the fear lacing the boys eyes. “Yeah you were, which means that you being here is a way to avoid that dinner.”

“No it’s not.” The small hitch in the boys tone had Kakashi smirking.

“Uh huh...I don’t believe you.”

Iruka stiffened his expression. “ It was cancelled.”

Kakashi snorted. “Nice try kid, but things like that don’t get cancelled on a whim.”

Iruka huffed. “Well that’s your problem...Cause it was.” He pouted.

Kakashi watched the boy a moment. “Alright IF it was cancelled, why?”

“Why what?”

Sighing Kakashi grit out. “Why was the dinner cancelled?”

“Oh.” Iruka was silent a moment before shrugging.

Kakashi snorted. “Seriously that’s the best defence you’ve got? A shrug.”

“You do it all the time.” The boy couldn’t help but point out.

Kakashi had to hand it to the kid, he knew him well. Still he wasn’t about to let Iruka get the upper hand now that he had a lead on what was going on. “Why would your sensei let you get off scot free? It’s an important event.”

“You’re not going.” Iruka pointed out hastily. The glare he got had the boy sighing.

“What’s really going on?”

Iruka shrugged.

“Iruka.”

“I don’t want to go.”

Kakashi snorted. “Yeah good luck with that one kid, I don’t think your sensei will be in a very forgiving mood if you ditch that dinner. Framing me isn’t a good way of getting your way either.” He tacked on.

Iruka gave him a apologetic look, but didn’t speak up.

“So what’s going on? I thought you rugrats were excited...Big honor after all, not everyone gets t-”

“I just don’t want to go.” Iruka hastily spit out.

“Yeah see that’s kind contradictory to the previous conversations we’ve had about it, so what changed?”

Iruka looked away, refusing to meet the Anbu’s piercing gaze. Kakashi sighed when he saw Iruka tuck into himself, a tactic the boy had developed before graduating from the academy.

“Iruka just tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s not like you can fix it.” The boy bit out.

“Well I can try.”

Iruka shook his head. Resolute in his opinion that there was nothing the Anbu could do to help his present situation. “Did your sensei say something?”

Iruka shook his head. “No. Everyone’s excited.”

“Except you.”

Iruka bit his lip. “My teammates.”

Kakashi’s eyes tightened, fear coiling in his gut. Iruka had begun to form attachments to the other two boys, after a rocky start that was. If this involved them then it could be something that Kakashi really couldn’t help the boy with. Team dynamics would have to be left to the boys sensei to sort out, no matter how much that made Kakashi uncomfortable.

“What about your teammates?”

Iruka took a deep breath. “ Sensei got mad.”

“About?”

“Someone said we couldn’t...They told...” Iruka looked frustrated as he couldn’t find the right words. Kakashi was patient and waited the boy out, it took a few breaths before Iruka managed to mumble. “We can’t go.”

“Go?” Kakashi was confused for all of a second before his brain kicked into gear. “You can’t go to the dinner? Why not?”

“We don’t belong.” Iruka glanced back at him for a split second, the look he gave the Anbu spoke of the meaning behind his words. Kakashi turned his head away, not wanting Iruka to think his anger was directed at him.

“So they said you and your teammates weren’t allowed.”

“Sensei got mad.”

Kakashi snorted. “Yeah well that’s not really hard to believe kid.”

“None of us are going.”

Kakashi’s head canted back around. “None? Your sensei-”

Iruka shook his head. “If we can’t go as a team we don’t go at all.” Iruka parroted what his sensei had said. Kakashi blinked back at the genin in surprise.

“Wow.”

Iruka gave him a sorrow filled look. “Sensei’s going to be in so much trouble because of us.”

Kakashi snorted. “Iruka your sensei is sticking up for you and your teammates because it’s the right thing to do.”

“But-”

Kakashi shook his head. “You were invited.”

“But we don’t belong.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Seems to me that’s pretty much how all of us are at some point. Besides that it’s pretty rude to rescind an invitation.”

“I’m not from Konoha.”

That stung. Hearing the boy use his old village as a means to not belong, to be outcast from events that others would take part in simply because of blood ties to the village.

“You belong here. Your teammates were born here weren’t they?” Kakashi already knew they had been, but he wanted to drive home a point.

“Well yeah.”

“So it’s obviously not that, there’s nothing wrong with you boys. It’s just politics.”

Iruka gave him a shrewd look.

“Sometimes...Things that aren’t supposed to be complicated become overly complicated because someone with fancy clothes or a make believe title deem it be. Doesn’t make it so, but the majority of people go with it anyways. Your sensei decided that it was in you and your teammates best interest to not be a part of that.”

“They were mad at sensei.”

Kakashi shrugged. “I’m sure they were, but that’s mostly because it’s embarrassing to them.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry about it okay, your sensei will sort everything out. Whether or not you goto the dinner doesn’t matter. From the sounds of things your sensei isn’t all too eager to be there to begin with.”

Iruka smirked. “Said it’s horrible.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Now that I can believe.” He took a careful look at the boy in front of him, Iruka had grown quite a bit since he’d first met the boy. Maybe not so much in height as he loved to tease him for being shorter than him, but he’d grown in other ways. Kakashi was quite proud of himself to have played a part in that.

“So...You going to tell me how you found me?”

Iruka smirked. “Nope.” 

“I suppose I’ll just have to resume your torture then.” He said with a resigned tone of voice.

“You sure this counts as torture?” Iruka replied cheekily.

“You’ll be begging for mercy in no time.” 

Iruka didn’t seem overly worried about the threat, more than likely because being tickled by an Anbu was more something to laugh at then something to fear. As if to prove a point to himself, Iruka reached up and blatantly poked Wolf’s mask. Kakashi glared back at the smirking kid.

“You are going to regret that.” He promised.

Iruka shrugged in a carefree manner. “I think I can survive.” He grinned in a challenging manner.

Kakashi stepped back to give the boy some room, no longer crowding him in against the tree. He waved an arm at the boy. “By all means I’ll give you a head start.”

“Head start?”

“Mmhmm and when I’m done counting to 50 I’m going to track you down and torture you.”

Iruka gave him a curious look. “It didn’t work the first time, it won’t work a second time” Iruka proudly boasted.

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. “One.”

Iruka blinked rapidly. “Wha-”

“Two.”

“Wolf.”

“Three.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Four.”

“You can’t start counting without telling me what you-”

“Five.”

“Damn it.” Iruka took off running, he knew by now what it meant when an Anbu started counting. He didn’t wish to stick around to find out just what Wolf had in store for him. He could get away, counting to fifty took time and he wasn’t all that far from the village. Surely someone would interfere if they saw him running from an Anbu-No they wouldn’t. Iruka shook his head as he ran through the bushes and stumbled over rocks. He winced when he heard his Anbu call out off in the distance.

“Six. Watch your language or I’ll count faster!”

That would be bad. Very bad, he’d have no chance of escape if Wolf decided to count faster. With that in mind Iruka shouted out a hasty. “Sorry!”

“Seven.”

Huffing Iruka continued running, if he was fast enough he might be able to make it to the Nara compound, if he really really pushed it. If he made it there he’d be safe, Himiko wouldn’t let Wolf get him. Of course if she wasn’t home he was totally screwed, Raccoon would just stand aside and laugh. Still it was too late to give the Anbu what he wanted, even if he did tell Wolf who had tracked him down for Iruka there was no guarantee that Wolf would stop counting. If anything he might decide to speed things up so he could go and ‘talk’ with the person responsible. At least that’s how the older teen had always put it and that had never ended particularly well for the other person in the conversation. Iruka couldn’t hear Wolf’s voice anymore, but he wasn’t foolish enough to think that he was being let go. Iruka knew that Wolf would keep his word, he was going to count to fifty and then he’d start chasing after Iruka. Cursing under his breath the genin couldn’t help but mutter.

“I should have just told him.” It wasn’t like his sensei had said he couldn’t tell Wolf...Iruka had just been told that it wasn’t a ‘good’ idea for him to tell Wolf. That was different right? Groaning as he ran, Iruka was sorely tempted to rat out his sensei to Wolf and then rat out Wolf to Himiko. It was only the fear of what would happen if he did so that kept him silent. Sensei would murder him if he did something like that and Wolf...Well Wolf could be-Different. After all it wasn’t every day that an Anbu came up with the idea of torturing a genin this way, Iruka liked to think of Wolfs quirks as something to be treasured. 

Most people didn’t agree with Iruka, but they didn’t know Wolf like he did. No matter how horrible the torture Wolf was going to use against him, Iruka was more than willing to endure it. Sensei had said after all. “If you’re not willing to bleed, to suffer, to die for your village then you should go home now. I can promise you will all bleed for your village, you may very well suffer in ways unimaginable to you now. However it’s my job to make it so you don’t die for it. Whatever torture you think I’m putting you through...Know this, torture now means less torture later.” Iruka could still remember the subtle smirk on his sensei’s face. “Besides unlike someone else who might torture you, the hokage won’t allow the inhuman torture of genin anymore for the sake of training. Don’t make him regret that decision.”

As Iruka ran he couldn’t help but let out a stream of laughter, he could handle a little torture from Wolf. Torture was worth it, if it meant that this was the kind of life he got to have. One with his sensei, teammates, Wolf and all the others. It was totally worth it.

  
  



End file.
